Influence of Substrate Temperature on Microstructure of Zirconium Silicon Nitride Thin Films Deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Zr-Si-N thin films were co-deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering to verify the influence of silicon content (1.6 and 8.0 at. % Si) and substrate temperature (room temperature and heated to 973 K) on structure, morphology, chemical bonds and hardness. GAXRD shows a change in grain orientation from (111) to (200) due substrate heating for sample Zr0.984Si0.016N, furthermore, it was not possible to identify any silicon compounds in all deposited samples. SEM-FEG images show greater roughness and surface clusters for sample Zr0.920Si0.080N due to the heat applied on the substrate, with Si3N4 decomposition, influencing thin film hardness. XPS analyses of Si 2p photoelectronic region shows only Si3N4 presence in all samples, proving, in conjunction with other characterization results, the non-formation of substitutional or interstitial solid solution, regardless of substrate heating or silicon content added to ZrN matrix.